At the beginning of the academic year 2015/2016, the Semmelweis Unviersity introduced block courses / teaching in year 5 of medical studies. Recently a students’ forum about block courses was held, where the students gave their opinion on the new system. The forum was organized by the Students’ Union of the Faculty of Medicine and was attended by many members of the Faculty of Medicine, including the dean Dr. László Hunyady and the vice-deans.
The main idea behind the new system, established in the fall semester of last year, was to enable students to do their practical lessons in the clinic in one or two week blocks, in order to reduce the time spent when changing from one department to another.
During this forum, the faculty wanted to get suggestions and feedback from the students regarding the new system, because: “Our aim is to improve the quality of practical education by reforming the methodology and the content of the courses. So far the new system has proved to be working well and in case of problems answers are constantly being looked for.”, Dr. László Hunyady said.
It is another big goal to improve the equipment of the labs used for practical courses. In order to achieve this goal, the university invests a lot in educational resources, e.g. a device for practicing the application of catheters at the Department of Urology. The Department of Thoracic Surgery acquired also many new devices for the education of the students. Another goal is to reduce even more the number of students in classes and to introduce an electronic feedback system.
By applying the new system – and with the help of a “competency list”, which determines the competencies and skills the students need to learn during the practical classes – the medical program is more and more standardized.
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